C & C globetrotting around the world…

From Battambang to Siem Reap we took a boat, which had some tourists, but also many locals packed with all kinds of goods. At first we were on the Stung Sangker river, which flows into the Tonle Sap river. On the way, the boat squeezes through narrow waterways, some so narrow that the branches get into the boat and passengers have to duck. The scenery is nice, but one always had to be careful. The Tonle Sap lake witnesses a very interesting phenomenon each year. With the snow melting in the Himalayas and the yearly monsoon season, the Mekong river swells up very quickly. This causes the flow direction of the Tonle Sap river to reverse and flow backwards into inner Cambodia. Tonle Sap river than quadruples its size and becomes the largest fresh-water lake in South-East Asia at 100,000km². Around the end of October (beginning of the dry season) the flow reverses again and the water empties out and leaves behind a rich swampy region that is abundant in fish and perfect for growing rice. So the Tonle Sap is a water highway, a water reservoir, a flooding control system, as well as a food basket.

The name Siem Reap means “Siam Defeated”, which is a pretty daring name for a city situated so close to the Thai border. Siem Reap is the base for visiting the Temples of Angkor, so we stayed there a few days. First we went to the Angkor National Museum to learn about the Angkorian era before going to the temples. We learnt about Khmer history, the glory of the Khmer empire from the pre-Angkorian era to its fall. We also learned a bit about Hinduism and the 3 main gods (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva), which is important because these 3, along with many more are depicted in the Angkor temples everywhere. In the evening we went to a restaurant and watched a show of Apsara dancers, which we enjoyed very much. The apsaras are heavenly nymphs, often depicted in the temples too, and also the ones believed to have inspired the royal dancers. They were beautifully dressed and their movements very exact, which made for an entertaining evening.